Updated 30 July 2026
RAMS template for a solar PV installation
Twenty steps for roof access, live DC strings, grid connection and handover.
Method statement: solar PV installation sequence21 steps
- Survey the roof before you price it: covering type and age, batten and rafter condition, and what sits under the covering.
- Get a structural opinion on the added load where the rafters are light, the covering is heavy, or the array takes most of a slope. That opinion is not yours to give.
- Check the planning route early. On a house in England the panels are permitted development. On a pitched roof they must not stand more than 0.2 metres off the slope, measured from the perpendicular, or above the highest part of the roof. On a flat roof the limit is 0.6 metres.
- Check the designations before you quote, and check what each one actually does. A scheduled monument bars the install. So does a building in the curtilage of a listed dwelling. A conservation area or World Heritage Site bars only a wall fronting a highway, so a roof array is still permitted — but a flat-roof array on that land needs a prior-approval determination before you begin, and a listed dwelling needs listed building consent under its own regime.
- Survey the existing installation: earthing arrangement, main bonding, spare ways at the board, and whether the supply and the meter position suit an export.
- Decide the connection route in writing before ordering, because it changes who you need permission from and when.
- Where the inverter output is over 16 amperes per phase, agree the specific requirements with the distributor and hold that agreement before the panels arrive. Their lead time sets your programme.
- Where it is at or under, confirm the unit disconnects itself when the supply goes, then tell the distributor you intend to run in parallel before or at commissioning, and keep the record.
- Give the building notice or use your registered-person route. The PV circuit is a new circuit.
- Plan access as work at height first and electrical work second. An edge-protected scaffold across the working slope, not a ladder — a panel is large, heavy and awkward in both hands.
- Have the scaffold inspected before first use and after anything that could affect it, and keep the report where the reviewer can see it.
- Set a wind speed at which panel lifting stops, name who calls it, and check the forecast each morning. A panel is a sail.
- A tiled or slated slope is not normally a fragile surface, so say what on this roof is: rooflights, polycarbonate over a conservatory or lean-to, a fibre-cement garage roof, old valley boards. Work off boards over those and put a warning notice at the approach. On the tiles the hazard is a cracked tile underfoot or a wet slate.
- Close the ground under the eaves while rails and panels go up, and sheet or net the lift below the working area.
- Fix the roof anchors into rafters rather than battens, and weather each penetration as you make it rather than at the end of the day.
- Keep every DC connector capped and every string open until the run is made off. A module produces voltage in daylight and there is no switch upstream of it.
- Terminate the DC side at the inverter with the string switch open, then check polarity before you close anything. A reversed string closed onto an inverter is the fire.
- If a connection has to be made on a live string, write down first why it cannot be dead and why it is reasonable to work it live, then name the precautions and use them: work at first light or after dusk, cover the modules, keep the string broken into short sections, and use gloves and tools rated above the array's open-circuit voltage. A cold clear morning is when that voltage is highest.
- Run the AC side to its own way with its own means of isolation, label the DC and AC isolators, and mark the board so the next person knows there is a second source of supply.
- Commission only once the distributor's side is settled: the agreement in hand where you needed one, or the notification sent where telling them was enough.
- Hand over the certificate, the string layout, the isolator locations and the shutdown order, post that order at the isolators where the fire service will look for it, and walk the occupier through shutting it down.
Paste into your own document and edit every line.
What does a reviewer check on a PV install?
| Question | What the provision says | Where |
|---|---|---|
| QuestionWho has to agree the grid connection? | What the provision saysOver 16 amperes per phase at low voltage, agree the specific requirements with the distributor. At or below it, reg 22(2) still requires automatic disconnection and notice before or at commissioning. | WhereESQCR 2002, reg 22 |
| QuestionCan the array be made dead? | What the provision saysNo, in daylight. Reg 14 permits live work only when making it dead is unreasonable, working live is reasonable, and suitable precautions prevent injury. | WhereEAWR 1989, reg 14 |
| QuestionDo the height duties reach a sole trader? | What the provision saysYes for construction-site work. Reg 3(3)(a) reaches a relevant self-employed person; reg 6 says avoid work at height before controlling the fall. | WhereWAH 2005, reg 6 |
| QuestionIs planning permission needed? | What the provision saysUsually not on an English home. Class A limits panels to 0.2 metres beyond a roof slope, below the roof's highest point, or 0.6 metres above a flat roof. | WhereGPDO 2015 (England), Sch 2 Pt 14 |
HSE says almost one in five construction deaths involve roof work. A new circuit is notifiable in England under reg 12(6A)(a) unless reg 12(6) takes it out. The board: consumer unit replacement. Fragile surfaces: reg 9. Whose height duties: reg 3 and the prescribed work.
Is 16 amperes the whole test?
No. Reg 22(2) needs all three of its conditions, and reg 22(1)(a) and (c) still bite. G98 and G99 are ENA documents, not legislation.
What do the steps stop short of?
Your hazards and controls, and the reg 4 weather limit. The Word file beside these steps is the general electrician RAMS. If the job includes a board change, the £29 consumer unit RAMS is task-specific and editable.
